Questions about setting up with Ubiquiti for basic home network

I had some questions answered in another thread about routers, but I thought this might be worth starting from scratch.

The scenario is that I would like to check on the best way to set up with Ubiquiti for my home network.

Right now, everything is working fine with a Netgear WNDR3800. However, I have a family member who needs to set up a new network at another location. So I am thinking about handing over the Netgear and re-doing my network.

The setup is pretty simple.

- WNDR3800 set up with T-W cable modem and wireless N.- My previous router, a WRT54G reconfigured as a WAP (G) halfway across the house for improved signal.- A 1Gb and a 100 Mb switch to connect everything to.

Would this be the way to go to get a nifty Ubiquiti setup going?

- Edgerouter Lite- A UniFi AP smack dab in the middle of the house connected via POE LAN for the wireless- Check out how all that works, then add other AP(s) if necessary for better wireless coverage.

From what I have read, it seems that this will be a Really Good system. However, the drawback may be that some obtuse Linux command line programming might be required to do some configuration. But, I really don't need anything fancy, just basic router functionality to share the internet and set up the network. Maybe one guest wireless access would be nice to have also.

Sounds about right to me. My understanding after some investigation (I've been considering getting the same router) is that while it comes almost completely unconfigured there are settings/template files and guides others have contributed to get started with common home NAT setups, etc. and that venturing outside the GUI shouldn't be needed unless you need to get fancy. Check the Ubiquiti forums.

As for the AP, dead center of the house will probably be fine, but you may want to consider finding a way to move it around and experiment before settling on a location. House design, wall layout, etc. can affect the ideal placement of the AP.

The edgerouter and unifi aren't integrated, so you don't need to be married to the edgerouter. It's a fine router though, you might also look at the mikrotik RB2011 and other units too.

You need to install the unifi controller software somewhere, likely on your workstation if you don't have a "server" system you want to use. It doesn't need to run all the time for the network to operate at 100%, but it needs to run to collect statistics and whenever you want to make changes to the setup.

The unifi's have a built in guest portal feature that allows them to filter traffic on your guest SSID without a full blown vlan setup. You can just slap them in anywhere and they will do their thing. The guest gets an IP out of your regular pool, but only get's to talk to the internet, everything else is firewalled unless you add an IP exception for an inside host.

Great this all sounds good, I will see what happens and then give it a try if I need to move my current router.

As I think about this, it struck me that the "standard and accepted" way for people to set up a network at home is to just put in a wireless N router like the one I have, either a Netgear, Linksys, or whatever brand. This is probably a good idea for the majority of people to just keep things simple. But it seems that if you have a decent wired network in place (which I have) that a more logical arrangement is to have the plain router (no wireless in the router) and an AP located at a central point, as opposed to having the wireless router located at the home run location where its wireless signal might not be optimal for the whole house. This is my exact situation, which is why I ended up having to task the old Linksys as a WAP for better coverage.

A router with no wireless in the closet with one or more nicely-located APs sounds like a much neater arrangement. And with these POE APs it is pretty easy to get one located at your desired point.

- Edgerouter Lite- A UniFi AP smack dab in the middle of the house connected via POE LAN for the wireless- Check out how all that works, then add other AP(s) if necessary for better wireless coverage.

This is EXACTLY the setup I implemented a month or so ago. Works perfectly. After using Ubiquiti gear at work, I was really impressed and pulled the trigger for home as well.

Setting up the EdgeRouter is VERY complex if you don't know much about the fine details of networking, but there are some preconfigured settings files out there that should help get you started. Thats how I got up and running with mine.

Also nice is that the CLI is accessible through the web interface so you don't always have to telnet/SSH to the device to make changes.

That EdgeRouter POE version looks pretty nice if you're going to do just a few POE devices. Not super expensive, and multiple POE ports.

Unfortunately, my bubble was burst when I found out it provides Ubiquiti's non-standard "passive PoE" as opposed to 802.3af PoE. It's still a nice router if you plan to stay within the Ubiquiti ecosystem; the EdgeMax POE will have no issues running their UniFi and AirMAX wireless products.

That EdgeRouter POE version looks pretty nice if you're going to do just a few POE devices. Not super expensive, and multiple POE ports.

Unfortunately, my bubble was burst when I found out it provides Ubiquiti's non-standard "passive PoE" as opposed to 802.3af PoE. It's still a nice router if you plan to stay within the Ubiquiti ecosystem; the EdgeMax POE will have no issues running their UniFi and AirMAX wireless products.

Really? That's...not so nice. Makes me change my mind about getting one of those in the future. The Edgerouter Lite still seems pretty good though.

Are you sure about that. It looked to me like as long as you used the 48v power supply instead of the default 24v power supply that you could do the standard poe (each port can then be set for no/24/48 in the web interface). Not saying I am 100% sure that is 802.3af, but that is how I read it.

Are you sure about that. It looked to me like as long as you used the 48v power supply instead of the default 24v power supply that you could do the standard poe (each port can then be set for no/24/48 in the web interface). Not saying I am 100% sure that is 802.3af, but that is how I read it.

I didn't see any mention of 802.3af in the data sheet, so the safe assumption would be that the 48V PoE would be Ubiquiti's proprietary 48V PoE, not standard PoE.

Good to know. I have kinda wondered why they use a their own setup for POE vs. just following the standard. Maybe they can make it cheaper? But then they still have to include injectors for every radio so maybe not.

What did you end up doing? I'm in a similar situation, except my Netgear WNDR3700 died (capacitor issue). I like the idea of being able to add access points later on (or upgrade just the AP to 802.11ac later), but I am worried about the setup and configuration. I'm technically inclined, but to a point; I don't know programming or command line stuff. For example, it wasn't until reading an above post that I was sure that the UniFi controller didn't have to be running all the time for it to work.

Previously, I had the Netgear router hooked directly up the the cable modem and then my PS3 and NAS connected directly to it. I would also plug in my laptop via ethernet so I could do quick backups to the NAS. However, after reading a bit, it seems like the Ubiquiti stuff (and perhaps all the enterprise or prosumer grade stuff) isn't too friendly in terms of "plug and play." How much configuration is needed? I originally thought I could get the Edgerouter and the UniFi and just run with it, but now I'm worried there's too much I don't understand. I've seen the smallnetbuilding articles, so I can probably use those config files, but it's nice to hear if other people similar to myself were successful with this setup.

FYI, they just released the 1.3 version of firmware for the Edgemax, which now includes a basic setup wizard. Guess they wanted to expand their userbase somewhat. Odds are that you'll have to upgrade it before deploying it, but that's not hard.